The NASCAR playoffs are approaching quickly, and this weekend is the best chance for underdogs to steal a berth.
While there are still two regular season races remaining, Saturday’s event at Daytona International Speedway is where the improbable can become reality.
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The 2.5-mile superspeedway often produces unpredictable results, with frequent crashes and surprise winners due to drafting strategies.
So, who is racing at Daytona? What’s the schedule for TV and streaming? And which drivers could contend for the win? Here’s everything you need to know for Coke Zero Sugar 400:
NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 entry list, drivers
Forty drivers will race in Daytona – the 34 full-timers, plus six others.
Three Xfinity Series regulars will compete in the Cup Series race on Saturday – Shane van Gisbergen for Kaulig Racing, Austin Hill for Richard Childress Racing and Parker Retzlaff for Beard Motorsports. Other part-time entries include Cody Ware for Rick Ware Racing, Joey Gase for NY Racing Team and B.J. McLeod for Live Fast Motorsports.
Here’s the full entry list for Daytona:
When is the NASCAR race in Daytona?
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is set for Saturday, Aug. 24, at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Before the race, there will be a qualifying session on Friday. The 40 drivers will take the track one-by-one (in this order) for two-round qualifying. Each driver gets two laps in the first round, with the 10 fastest advancing to the final round. The final 10 drivers will get two more laps to determine the top-10 starting order, with positions 11 through 40 set based on first round times.
What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?
Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for Cup Series events all weekend.
For Saturday’s race, NBC will show every green flag lap in a special “NASCAR Nonstop” presentation. There will only be side-by-side breaks during green flag action, delivering live coverage of every green flag lap. “NASCAR Nonstop” will be utilized again later this season for races at Atlanta and Talladega.
Here’s the full TV and streaming schedule:
Friday, Aug. 23 (USA Network and streaming)
- Qualifying: 5 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
Saturday, Aug. 24 (NBC, Peacock and streaming)
- Countdown to Green: 7 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports app
- Coke Zero Sugar 400: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports app
NASCAR playoff standings entering Daytona
There are still four playoff spots up for grabs with two regular-season races to go, with 12 spots being filled by race winners this season:
The final four spots are still up for grabs, and anyone who wins one of the next two races will get an automatic playoff berth. Since there won’t be 16 different winners in the regular season, the remaining spots will be filled based on points. Here’s how the points stack up for winless drivers:
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A driver can make up a maximum of 54 points in a race without winning (second-place finish and two stage wins is 55 points, last-place is one point), so the following drivers are too far back to make the playoffs on points. Here are the drivers facing a must-win situation:
NASCAR Daytona winners list, race history
Thirteen of the 40 drivers in the field are past winners at Daytona.
It’s not easy to stack wins at the drafting track, but Hamlin leads the way with three victories (all in the Daytona 500). Byron, Stenhouse and Dillon have two wins each, one in the Daytona 500 and one in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 each.
One-time winners at Daytona include Busch (2008), Logano (2015), Keselowski (2016), Jones (2018), Haley (2019), McDowell (2021), Blaney (2021), Cindric (2022) and Buescher (2023).
Daytona predictions, picks, favorites
If you haven’t realized it by now, picking a winner at Daytona is a total dart throw.
Sure, there are certain drivers who lead a lot of laps and have had success at the Florida track. But with cars traveling in a massive pack at nearly 200 mph, wrecks can happen at any moment and tear up a lot of fast cars.
Here are a few drivers worth keeping an eye on:
- Denny Hamlin: Three Daytona 500 wins and 676 laps led, which both lead all active drivers.
- William Byron: Won the Daytona 500 in February and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in 2020.
- Kyle Busch: Hasn’t won at Daytona since 2008, but has led 531 laps and essentially needs a win to make the playoffs for a 12th straight season.
- Bubba Wallace: Three second-place finishes at Daytona and leads all active drivers (minimum five starts) with a 12.4 average finish.
- Ryan Blaney: Won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in 2021 and has three wins at Talladega, the track most similar to Daytona.
- Brad Keselowski: Won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in 2016 and has six wins at Talladega.
Daytona weather for NASCAR
Florida weather in the summer is always tough to predict. As of Thursday afternoon, NBC Miami is expecting a potentially wet weekend in Daytona Beach, Florida.
There’s a 34% chance of rain on Friday and a 33% chance of rain on Saturday, with evening showers on Friday and morning showers on Saturday. The chance of precipitation is expected to decrease into the evening and nighttime on race day, so the main event could still go off without any problems depending on how the storms move. Keep up to date with the latest forecast right here.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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